2012 Spanish Grand Prix

Championship standings

Vettel leads the championship on 53 points after Bahrain. Hamilton is second on 49, Webber third on 48, with Button and Alonso tied for fourth on 43. The opening four races have been won by four different drivers — Button, Alonso, Rosberg, and Vettel.

Previous race

Vettel won in Bahrain with Räikkönen second and Grosjean third — the first all-Lotus podium lockout of the Enstone team’s history. Räikkönen declared after the race: “We want to win grands prix. We have a good car and we saw in Bahrain it is good enough to win.”

Between-race developments

Teams returned to the track on 1–3 May for a three-day in-season test at Mugello — the first such mid-season test since 2009. Alonso set the pace on day one; Grosjean and Kobayashi set identical times on day two; Vettel led the morning session on day three and Grosjean the afternoon.

Entrants

Four reserve drivers participate in FP1: Dani Clos (HRT), Alexander Rossi (Caterham), Valtteri Bottas (Williams), and Jules Bianchi (Force India). Rossi is the first American to participate in a Grand Prix weekend since Scott Speed in 2007.

Tyre choices

Pirelli brings the yellow-banded soft compound as the option and silver-banded hard compound as the prime. The DRS activation zone is positioned on the straight between the final and first corners. Minor circuit modifications include one metre of artificial grass at Turn 3 and a 50-metre kerb extension at Turn 5.

Practice

FP1: Alonso fastest (1:24.430) ahead of Vettel and Kobayashi. De la Rosa’s car bottomed out; Clos suffered mechanical problems.

FP2: Button dominated with 1:23.399, ahead of Vettel, Rosberg, and Hamilton. Webber and Pérez both ran off-track at Turn 4; Webber collected gravel on the racing line. Schumacher was later reprimanded after stewards reviewed a minor incident with Hamilton at Turns 13 and 15.

FP3: Vettel fastest (1:23.168) on soft tyres. Maldonado second, Kobayashi third. Grosjean’s Lotus suffered fuel pressure loss, ending his session early.

Weather

Partially cloudy and dry conditions are forecast for race day — 22–23°C air temperature, 32–35°C track. A thunderstorm passed overnight.